


Ash and Cheese

by Strange and Intoxicating -rsa- (strangeandintoxicating)



Category: Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: All others are mentioned briefly in the background, Anal Sex, M/M, Oral Sex, Sheith is the main ship, a good dose of humor, vers!Keith, vers!Shiro
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-08-26
Updated: 2019-08-26
Packaged: 2020-09-27 08:01:05
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 11,666
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20404351
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/strangeandintoxicating/pseuds/Strange%20and%20Intoxicating%20-rsa-
Summary: AKA: Cheesy Noodles in a Passionate EmbraceAltea Grad School's top Theoretical Astrophysics major Keith Arus just wants to survive his insane semester. Teaching dumb undergrads, dealing with his sister Allura's weird taste in men (plural), and trying to not get his Shadow Elf eviscerated in his weekly game of Monsters and Mana are hard enough, but Keith's life is about to get thrown for a loop when he accidentally leaves a fork in his microwave.In the ashes, a hero emerges, and Keith is going to let nothing stop him from climbing Fire Captain Takashi Shirogane like a fucking tree.





	Ash and Cheese

**Author's Note:**

> This came from my twitter fic thread. You can find me over @mssaifox

Keith should have been more embarrassed about the scorched walls and the busted microwave, but it was really hard to feel much of anything at two-thirty in the morning after an all-night study and essay cramfest. 

The worst part was that Keith knew the minute the firefighters left that he’d be back to square one—just this time there’d be no mac and cheese to act as a pick me up between the mind-numbing essay on quarks that he’d been starting and stopping all damn night. 

All because of a damn fork. 

Keith would have laughed if he wasn’t about to fall on his face.

_And just wait until Lance and Hunk hear about this. I’ll never live it down,_ Keith thought sourly as he adjusted his too-small shirt reflexively when he saw one of the firefighters approaching. 

Of course he had to be wearing his ratty-ass and too small pink Altea High shirt and boxers when his microwave decided to explode. 

“Well, there’s good news and bad news,” the firefighter said as he lifted off his helmet, and whatever the man was saying went in one ear and out the other because Keith could barely _breathe_, let alone think.

_Holy shit. He’s... big._

Big in a way that made Keith swallow, hard, and yank at the bottom of his shirt so hard he was pretty sure he heard some of the threads snap. 

Despite the fifty pounds of equipment, Keith could tell by the man’s face, by the slope of his throat, by how confidently he held himself that the man before him was Adonis in the flesh. Even the shock of white threaded through the man’s dark hair just screamed that this man was superior in every way humanly possible, and then some.

And then his hands were on Keith, pulling him up for air. 

“—hey, are you okay?” 

“Uh—y—yeah.” Keith knew he sounded as dumb as he looked at that very moment. 

_Stop gaping at him like a fucking moron,_ Keith thought as he reached up to touch the firefighter’s glove resting on his shoulder. 

“I’m okay,” Keith managed to choke out. 

“Smoke inhalation is no joke,” the Adonis in front of him replied, face touched with worry.

“No—no smoke inhalation. Just...”

“Shock?” The firefighter’s grip on his shoulder tightened and so did Keith’s boxers.

“Ye—Yeah. Something like that.” Keith could only hope that his face wasn’t as red as it felt, or that he could just pass it off as something—anything—else.

_Because if my face says I want to climb you like a goddamn tree, then just light me on fire and let me die in peace._

“Fires can be pretty scary, but you’re okay. You just need to be more careful in the future.”

“Yeah. Of course—“ Keith said, soaking in as much warmth from the man’s hand as humanly possible. “I didn’t mean to.” 

The firefighter pat his hand once more on Keith’s shoulder. 

_Maybe I died and this is actually heaven. Heaven with hot, hot firefighters. _

“What was it, anyway?”

Keith stared blankly at the firefighter. 

“The—the what?”

The firefighter laughed. God, did he have a nice laugh. 

“The microwave,” he said, smile pulling right over his teeth like it did in the magazines. How did he have such nice teeth? “What was in there?”

Oh. Right.

“Mac and Cheese,” Keith replied, glumly. 

“More like ash and cheese,” the handsome man replied instantaneously. 

For some ungodly reason, maybe due to the smoke inhalation or sleep deprivation, Keith couldn’t stop himself from snorting. 

“That bad, huh?”

“I’ve heard worse.”

“But the real question is if you’ve heard better.”

_I’d gladly listen to a hundred bad puns as long as they were coming out of your mouth._

The man waited, expectantly, still smiling that godly smile that made Keith’s insides feel like jello. 

“Oh—uh, no. I guess not.” 

“So, I’m the best you’ve ever had, huh?” 

If it wasn’t two in the morning and Keith wasn’t in his underwear standing outside his apartment, maybe Keith would have taken the man’s words as flirting. Because, Keith knew, there was no way in hell someone like this beautiful man would flirt with the dumbass who put a fork in a microwave. 

“Oh, yeah. Um. Yeah. I guess so.”

The firefighter’s smile was as bright as the sun before he reached up, brushing a hand through his hair. 

“Well, I’m sure you have class in the morning. You may want to leave the windows open for the night... unless you have somewhere you can stay?” He asked, voice tempered and smooth. 

Fuck. How was it a man could have such a sexy voice?

“Oh—uh, yeah. I’ll have to call Lance. Fuck, I’m going to have to explain this to him...” Explaining anything to Lance was like talking to a brick wall—a laughing brick wall. 

The firefighter licked his bottom lip. God, that should have been illegal.

“Your boyfriend?”

Keith snorted. “Oh hell no. He’s with my sister.” _And my sister’s boyfriend, _Keith mentally added, though thinking too much on that made Keith’s stomach churn. Allura and Lotor was one thing. Allura, Lotor, and Lance? 

That was just disgusting. 

“Oh, that’s... that’s good.” The fireman smiled, but then someone coughed in the background. “I—I—I mean, not staying here for the night. You know—for your health.”

The firefighter lifted his hand from Keith’s shoulder—had it really been there the whole time?—with a sheepish smile.

“You be careful with that mac and cheese, yeah?”

Keith didn’t realize until he was back in his still-smoky apartment, yanking clothes into his bag that during their entire conversation the mysterious firefighter really _hadn’t_ taken his hand off Keith’s shoulder. And—

And Keith he hadn’t even gotten his name. 

Damn it. It really wasn’t Keith’s day.

* * *

Fucking mac and cheese. 

Of course Lance was a dick about it, but at least Hunk was nice enough to make him a cup of coffee when he dragged his half-dead ass across campus.

“Maybe you should consider this a sign?” Hunk said as he plopped a double slice of his mouth-watering coffee cake onto the plate while Keith stared at his computer screen in a daze. 

“A sign of what?” Keith mumbled, wiping the eyegunk off with the corner of his still too-small Altea High shirt. 

“A sign that this loser needs to move in with his besties,” Lance snarked from the couch, where he’d thrown both feet over the arm. 

“And have to listen to you screw my sister and her boytoy?” Keith pinched his tearducts. “I’d rather drink acid.”

“We’ve got a no sex rule,” Hunk interrupted, “and anyway, it’s not like we don’t have the space.” 

Hunk, Lance, and Allura had been roommates ever since Altea University, while Keith had gone to Altea Tech a few miles away to study under the great Sam Holt. 

It was great to visit Hunk, Lance, and Allura’s apartment, but living there? 

Keith looked around the apartment. It was wide, spacious, and certainly gorgeous. Allura had decorated it in soft pinks and whites, except for the ugly red couch Lance had absolutely refused to get rid of. There were 4 bedrooms that were like mini-apartments in their own right, but…

“What happens when you put a theoretical astrophysics major, a mechanical engineering major, an aerospace engineering major, and the smartest stockbroker west of the Atlantic, Pacific, and Indian Oceans in the same apartment together?” 

“Orgies,” Lance replied. 

Keith screwed up his face.

“That’s my sister you’re talking about. I will throw—“ 

Lance pulled himself up into a half-crunch. “Brain orgies, man. Just some awesome brain orgies. And what’re you gunna throw at me, Hunk’s cake?”

It must have been clear from his face that the option had definitely crossed his mind because Hunk grabbed the cake right off the table. 

“Rule number 2—no throwing my cake!”

“So I can throw other people’s cake?” 

“Exac—no! No cake throwing of any kind!” 

“How ‘bout shoes?” Keith asked as he stared at Lance’s retreating head. 

“No shoes either!” 

It took a few minutes of aimless bickering until Keith finally opted against killing Lance, Hunk returning the cake to its rightful position next to Keith’s laptop.

“But really—why not just invite Lotor to come live with you guys? It’s not like he doesn’t basically live here anyway,” Keith said between bites. 

“That’s back to the rulo numero uno. He keeps the apartment so we can—“ 

“Still my sister,” Keith warned for the second time, but it was less a warning considering Lance’s shit-eating grin.

“—play monopoly all night long.” Lance wiggles his eyebrows. “All. Night. Long.”

“Considering what my sister does for a living, I hope she beats the shit out of you when I tell her what you’ve been saying.”

Allura was an incredibly private person, and Lance was...well. 

Lance was Lance. 

“I welcome it.”

Ew. Just. Ew. “Too much info, fucktard.”

Lance laughed. “Hey, you asked.”

“—Anyway. Yeah. Ixnay on the Lotor-ay.” Hunk pulled up another chair next to Keith. “So the fourth bedroom’s still up for grabs.”

Keith loved his friends, loved his sister, but living with them?

“I really like sex,” Keith said after a moment of hesitation.

“And you say _I’m_ too tmi,” Lance yells from the couch, but Keith doesn’t even have the energy to fight back.

Hunk, undoubtedly used to their bullshit, interrupted Keith before he had the chance to start another fight with Lance. 

“Anyway—you were saying something about a firefighter?”

Keith groaned and unceremoniously dropped his head down on his keyboard. 

He really should have stayed at his smoke-filled disaster of an apartment.

* * *

The next time he saw the firefighter it was three weeks later when one of his students decided to get his head stuck between the bars on the roof of the astronomy building.

“You’re in university and you shove your head where it _clearly_ doesn’t belong?” Keith wanted to scream and get angry, but considering the brown-haired boy was all but hyperventilating he knew that it wouldn’t help any. And even if he did yell, it wouldn’t make his head any less stuck. 

_God, this is going to be a headache. So much fucking paperwork. So, so much fucking paperwork. _

“I’m sorry,” the teenager said pitifully, and Keith decided at that moment that once he got his degree he was never _ever_ going to teach freshman again.

“Forget it, Evans— just stay still until the fire department gets here.” 

Keith had already excused the other students from the Astronomy lab, telling them to not bother coming back if they were the assholes who put Evans up to this in the first place. 

“You gunna tell me who did this?” 

Evans sniffled. “No—no one.” 

Keith raised one of his eyebrows as he sat down at the edge of the building, looking at the dumbass student he’d gotten stuck with. 

“Sure they didn’t.”

“I’m serious!” 

Keith shrugged and looked over the edge. They weren’t too high up, but enough that a nasty fall would break anyone’s neck. 

“Weren’t you supposed to be smart? I mean, Sam only lets smart freshman into his class. Are you not smart?” 

Keith couldn’t see the kid’s face, but he was pretty sure the kid went ten shades paler. 

“I’m sorry Professor.”

Keith snorted. “I’m just the TA. The TA who’s going to need to write so many fucking reports about this.” 

“Sir—can you... can you not tell Dr. Holt?” Evans’ voice shook.

“You going to tell me who shoved your head in there?”

Evans didn’t answer, so Keith only shrugged. 

Keith could see the firefighters coming up the stairs across the roof, and he pushed himself up to his feet, dusting his hands on his pants. 

“Stay here Evans.”

“I’ll, uh... I’ll try, sir.”

Keith spoke with the first two firefighters up the stairs, moving out of the way for another four who followed close behind. 

“Any idea what happened?” The man was tall and burly, the sides of his head shaved, leaving only a tuft of blond mohawk to cover up a rather nasty scar.

“Still trying to figure it out,” Keith admitted. “From what I can only guess, someone either shoved his head in there and Evans it covering for him, or someone dared him and Evans is covering for him.” 

“Is it rush week already?” the other man, equally built but a little shorter, asked.

“Unfortunately. God, I’m glad Altea Tech didn’t have any of—“ Keith jerked his head toward Evans, who was now clinging to the bars around his head for dear life, “—that.”

Keith turned to look at Evans. “You think you can get him out with those big ears?”

“Well, we can try. We might need to hack them off and let the doctors try putting them back on later.” 

Keith froze.

“Cap, I thought you were gunna stay downstairs? Did you find the professor?” 

Oh. Oh, no.

“They told me he was up here.”

Evans made a pained sound and Keith was glad that it was from him and not out of his own throat. 

“So, professor, huh?” 

Keith swallowed as he turned back to the two firefighters, except there were now three. 

Of course it would be the Adonis from before. Of course it was.

“TA,” Keith corrected. “I’m just the TA.” 

“Well, Just the TA, my name’s Shiro.” 

Keith’s throat went dry and the Adonis—_Shiro_— smiled in a way that should have been absolutely fucking _illegal_.

If the firefighter with the Mohawk rolled his eyes back any further he would have been able to see his brain.

“Oh, no—I’m—“

“Keith! Mr. Arus—“

Keith turned blessedly away from the firefighter—_Shiro_, Keith thought numbly—and toward his dumbass student.

“What is it Evans?”

“Please don’t let them cut off my ears—“

“No one’s cutting off your ears, Evans.”

“Then why are there so many of them?!”

Shiro laughed and god, it sounded as beautiful now as it did the night where Keith had accidentally lit his kitchen on fire. 

“Did you really need seven firefighters for one dumb student?”

Shiro’s smile made Keith’s balls flutter up to his throat.

“Slow day, Just the TA. A very, very slow day.” Shiro went to move around him, but Keith found himself purposely moving in the way.

“Keith,” Keith replied. “I’m Keith.”

Shiro’s smile shouldn’t have been able to get bigger, but it did. 

“Keith, huh?”

It wasn’t fair how beautiful his name sounded coming out of Shiro’s mouth.

It really wasn’t fair at all.

It took fifteen minutes and a bottle of lube—specifically only used for this exact purpose the mohawk firefighter, Ulaz, clarified—until Evans was free, ears still attached to his equally big head. 

“Still want to tell me you thought it was a good idea?” 

A glob of lube dripped down with a sad splunk.

“Peterson and Winchester.”

“Of course it was.” Those two dicks—seniors just taking the course because astronomy was supposed to be easy and they needed the credits to graduate, and Sam was sometimes too goddamn nice. 

“Go home, Evans.”

The teenager gulped. “Are you going to tell my mom?”

Keith could only balefully glare at Evans. “This is University. I am one of the top graduate students studying Astrophysics in the country and you? You’re an adult.” 

“Is that a no?”

“Go. Home. Evans.” Then, as an afterthought, gestured to the door. “There’s a camera over there. Those dipshits’ll get what’s coming to them. I don’t take this kind of bullshit in my class.”

Evans looked down at his feet and Keith let out a long-suffering sigh. 

“Be here Thursday afternoon to make up the lab. If you don’t show, I’ll make you wish I called your mother.”

The relief bled across the teenager’s face and for a moment Keith thought he was going to try to hug him. 

Thankfully, Evans didn’t, instead just nodding his head a little too enthusiastically, shedding more lube all over the roof of the astronomy building. 

“That was nice of you.”

Keith looked over to where Shiro was leaning against the roof guard rail where Evans head had been stuck just a moment before.

“It’s not his fault his classmate’s an asshole.”

But the way Shiro smiled at him made Keith feel just a little like maybe, just maybe, he had a bit of a soft and gooey center to him.

The other firefighters milled about for a little while, one of them handing some paperwork over to Shiro who was quick to sign it with a flourish. 

“So, as I was saying earlier,” Shiro continued.

“Hm?” 

“So you’re not a professor—just the TA? And you said you study...”

“Astrophysics.”

“Sounds hard.”

_Not as hard as you’re making me right now_, Keith wanted to say, but he held it back. 

“Well, it’s not easy,” Keith said through clenched back teeth.

Shiro laughed. “I always kinda wanted to study astronomy,” the man admitted as he ran a hand through his dark hair. The shock of white made Keith state for just a moment too long. “Didn’t go through with it, though.”

“Why not?”

Shiro gave a half-shrug as he looked back down at the paperwork in his hand. “You know—life, the universe, and everything.” 

“Will it take you seven and a half million years to answer it?” 

Shiro cackled like an overgrown child, and god, who needed liquor with a laugh as intoxicating as that?

“I can at least promise that the answer isn’t 42.”

_He’s a nerd. He’s a hot fire fighting nerd who makes bad jokes. I think I’m in love._

Their conversation was interrupted just then by the radio attached to Shiro’s belt.

“10-2, this is Captain Shirogane.”

“Cap—we’ve got a code 3 10-70 on Belmont and 1st.” The voice cut through the silence and Keith could already hear the fire engine a few stories down roaring to life. 

“And that would be my cue to find the exit. I shouldn’t have said it was a quiet day,” Shiro said before holding down the button on his radio. “Copy. 3 minute ETA. Standby.”

Shiro managed a small smile. “Duty calls, top Astrophysics grad student in the world.”

“Top three in the country,” Keith replied. 

“I like mine better, Starlight.”

Starlight.

Shiro’s eyes went wide, and Keith wondered just for a moment if the beautiful firefighter was about to make a jump for it. But, just as quickly as the thought came Shiro’s mouth curled into an impish grin. 

“I’ll see you around, yeah?” Shiro jotted something down on the corner of the paperwork he’d been filling out. 

“Just—don't light your apartment on fire or shove that head of yours anywhere it shouldn’t be.”

Shiro pressed the paper into Keith’s hand. For just a moment he thought Shiro would do something fucking ridiculous like kiss his knuckles, but Shiro let his thumb brush against Keith’s just for a second before he pulled away.

That Thursday, Keith gave Evans bonus points just because he could, Shiro’s number tucked securely away in his computer bag.

* * *

  
Shiro’s phone number was mocking him. 

“C’mon, Just give the guy a call—it’s been two weeks and you’re starting to look more like a kicked puppy than anything,” Lance said as Keith stared at the D&D set up in front of him.

“Lance—let Keith come to his own conclusions.”

“‘lura, babe. He’s been like this for weeks. It’s getting pathetic.” 

Keith glanced up from the kitchen table and the 20-sided die mocking him to see his older step-sister staring at Lance with a mixture of fondness and frustration. 

Allura was smart as a whip, having graduated two years prior. She took up a job immediately out of university with Galra Corporation, the same place she’d interned at her senior year. 

It was where she had met Lotor, the son of Galra Corp’s CEO. 

Some people assumed Allura’s quick rise in the ranks at Galra Corp had been the reason as to her quick rising as the most promising and terrifying stockbroker in the country. That and her connections to the city of Altea, as their father, Alfor Arus, owned most of the entire city. 

They would have assumed incorrectly. 

“Oh, 3?” Allura asked, the pity in her words absolutely non-existent. “I’m so sorry, but you fell into the ravine, and your shadow elf has been eviscerated by the Warcenchold dragon.” She grabbed a chip from next to her elbow. “Chomp chomp, love. Chomp chomp.”

“But—“ Keith stared at his sister. “We just started!”

Allura shrugged, pulling her ponytail tight. “You know the rules—“

“What rules?” Keith replied, staring as his sister ate another chip. “What rule says I have to call Shiro—“

“Already on first names, are we?” Allura chirped between bites.

“My sex life is _not_ part of this campaign!”

“Then say goodbye to your shadow elf.”

“But that’s not part of the rules!”

“Pretty sure the dungeon master gets to make the rules,” Hunk interrupted from across the table. 

“So says the guy playing footsie with my professor’s daughter,” Keith snarked back. 

Pidge, the only undergraduate in the group, shrugged.

“Allura’s got the whip. Just do what she says or you’re going to need to make a new character,” Pidge replied, adjusting her glasses. “No one wants to sit through you writing up another tragic backstory for another unfortunate shadow elf.”

“Eliora is a great character—“

“Boooooooring.”

Keith reaches over the table, grabbing the bowl of chips, throwing a handful in Lance’s face. 

You want to talk about boring? What about your half-ogre who is after the princess’s heart—“

Lance made a kissy face to Allura. “I always go after the princess.”

That managed to get both Pidge and Allura to laugh.

“Look, give him a call. I promise, the worst you’ll get is a date.” 

“And maybe if you get a little somethin’ somethin’ you’ll be less of a pain in our asses.”

Allura rested her hand on Lance’s shoulder. 

“Aw, babe—“

“Oh, I just wanted the chip,” she replied with a smirk. 

“But really, just call him. There’s no way he’d say no—and isn’t that why you wanted to stay in your own apartment? So you could have crazy kinky sex?”

Keith growled. “I just don’t want to live with you nutjobs.”

“That’s fine—we’ve already found someone to take the other room.” 

“Oh?” 

Allura hummed. 

Keith glanced at Pidge. “You?”

“As if. I’m not paying to live in this hellhole.”

“It’s not _that_ bad,” Hunk begins, but Pidge interrupts. 

“It’s a nice apartment, I’ll give you that.”

“But?”

“Look—no offense, but Allura—you and Keith are like... billionaires. Your family _owns_ this school.”

Keith looked over to Allura, who was frowning. 

“Are we... stuck up? Is that what you’re saying?”

Pidge snorted. “Allura, you clip coupons. For _fun_.”

“What—I like bargains!”

“And Keith wears the same shirt three times a week—“

“It’s comfortable!”

“So, no. I don’t think you’re stuck up. But why... _why_ do you insist on living on campus? You don’t even _go_ here anymore, Allura.”

Keith and Allura shared a look, one that they’d had ever since they were kids, before turning back to Pidge as they both deadpanned, “Life experience,” before bursting into peels of laughter. 

“Okay—this? This is why I won’t move in. Nutcases, the lot of you. I rest my case.”

After wiping the tears of mirth from his eyes, Keith turned back to his sister. “So,  
You guys found someone to take the room?”

“Yeah—one of Lotor’s friends. I haven’t met him yet, but Allura says he’s ‘absolutely chaaaaaaming.” Hunk clasped his hands in front of himself, batting his eyelashes. 

“He a student?” 

“No—Lotor said he’s going through a rather nasty divorce at the moment. He’s been staying with Lotor, but...” a faint dusting of pink slipped over her cheeks. 

“Nope. Nope, nope, nope. You can stop right there.”

“I didn’t _say_ anything—“

“You don’t need to say anything, I’m already cursed—no, don’t look at Lance like that either! And don’t look at me—“

The group laughed, and though Keith could feel the warmth still on his cheeks, it wasn’t all that bad. 

“But back to your dead Shadow elf...” 

“Fine— fine. I’ll call him, I’ll call him. Tomorrow.”

“Now.”

“Tomorrow.”

“Chomp chomp, Keith.”

“God, you’re such a pain in my ass.” Keith rolled his eyes but acquiesced, teaching down for the bag at his feet. It was only a little after 8, so it wasn’t too too late. 

“If he doesn’t answer—“

“You’ll leave a message or we’ll never have a chance to get out of the Helheim mines, then Pidge’s bard is going to fuck us all—“

“And then we’ll all die, I know, I know—“ Keith rummaged through the bag, pulling out his phone.

“You don’t get it—her bard will literally fuck us all to death. Teeth in the lady bits—“

“I said fine, just gimme a sec.”

Keith scrolled through his contacts until he reached the only number he’d never actually used.

His finger hovered over the number before Hunk bumped him gently with his shoulder. 

“C’mon, man. Do it so we can all get on with this game.”

Keith hit the number. 

_Too late to go back now,_ he thought as he lifted the phone to his ear. 

_Beep. Beep. Beep._

Beep. Beep. Beep.

“Hi—“

Keith spluttered. He wasn’t supposed to actually _answer_—

“It looks like you caught me at a bad time. Leave your name and message And I’ll get back to you when I’m not fighting fires.”

_Beeeeeeep_.

“Uh—hi,” Keith said lamely. “This... this is Keith. I—you gave me your number, so I...just wanted to call. Talk. Call and talk. Yeah.”

Someone thumped their head on the table. 

“Anyway, sounds like you’re busy, so I’ll call back later. Yeah. Thanks. Bye.”

Keith hung up the phone. 

“What?”

Four pairs of eyes stared at him, incredulous. 

“Woooooow. That was—“

“Painful?”

“I was going to say sad.”

“He’s just nervous, that’s all,” Allura offered, but all Keith could do was bang his head on the table. 

“You’re never going to get beefy firefighter like that,” Pidge replied. “I almost feel bad for you.”

“Juzzlemmedie,” Keith mumbled into the velvet tablecloth.

“Oh, look! Your faceplant rolled the dice— it’s a 16, now! I guess the dragon will just have to wait.”

Keith opted to hit his head again, just because. 

* * *

The next time Keith met Shiro, it wasn’t due to fire or stupid senior dipshits. It was standing in the coffee shop just off University, the fire station just across the street and entirely too far away from where Keith should have been. 

There was a still-red and angry gash over the bridge of Shiro’s nose, just under his eyes, and it took everything Keith had and then some to not jump over a toddler to grab hold of Shiro.

“Hey—I didn’t know you came here,” Shiro began, but Keith grabbed his bicep and pulled him right out of line.

Keith didn’t know Shiro well and he didn’t have any right to comment, but considering Shiro never called back, Keith had given up the firefighter as a lost connection. It had hurt, and Keith had mooned and pined for the last two weeks, but...

“What happened to your face?”

Shiro tried to grin but the movement seemed to pull at the stitches.

“Falling door,” Shiro said, his voice holding a humor Keith didn’t understand—a humor Keith _couldn’t_ understand, because he was six years old all over again, his mother cradling him in her arms as she sobbed that daddy was gone, that daddy ran back into the fire and didn’t come back, that daddy **_died_**—

“Keith—Keith?”

Keith's mouth was dry, but his eyes weren’t.

“I—I’m sorry I didn’t call you back. I really wanted to, but my phone—“

Keith wasn’t sure what it was, but he found himself wanting to do nothing more than grab the man in front of him and cling on and never let go.

Keith didn’t, because that was insane and he’s only met Shiro twice, but it was a close call. 

“It’s okay. It’s okay,” Keith said instead, though who he was trying to convince Keith wasn’t quite sure. “You’re okay.”

Shiro managed a tentative that pulled only a little at his stitches. “Yeah, I’m ok. I promise.”

Keith went from horror to guilt in an instant. He hadn’t thought even for a moment that something could have happened to Shiro. Years of childhood therapy had helped dull the ache that his father’s death had left on him. This...

This ripped that wound clean open, and Keith had to bite back words, a response of any kind, as Shiro spoke.

“I really was going to call, but things happened and I ended up in the hospital, and my ex took my phone, and...” Shiro paused, licking his lip. “Why don’t you let me buy you a coffee to make up for it?”

There was such a tentativeness to his words that it made Keith _hurt_. 

“I mean, if you want. Or have time. Or, you know, want to have coffee with someone with this mug—“ 

Shiro gestured to the cut over the bridge of his nose with such self-deprecation that Keith could feel it in his bones. 

“It’s a good mug.” 

Shiro stopped mid-sentence. “Y—you think so?” 

Keith nodded his head, trying to shake away the demons in his thoughts. “Yeah, know so.”

“And let me get the coffee—“

“No—no pity coffee. Let me pay, so at least I can pretend the top Astrophysics grad in the universe has a reason to talk with me.”

“I thought it was the top Astrophysics grad in the world?” Keith asked, unable to look away from Shiro’s face. Even bruised and cut, he was handsome.

“What can I say? You got upgraded, Starlight.”

Keith’s heart skipped two beats.

Keith accepted the coffee and the slice of chocolate cake that he and Shiro shared, bite for bite. The conversation was smooth, just like the chocolate, and when they got down to the last bite, Shiro and Keith’s forks clashed in multiple attempts of trying to push it to the other side. 

“C’mon, I want you to have it—“

“No, Shiro—you bought it—“

“—for you—“

“—I want you to have it—“

They only stopped when the waitress brought another slice of cake, banging it down on the table loud enough to bring both Shiro and Keith out of their playful banter.

“I—we didn’t order this?” Keith said, staring at the woman. He expected there to be some anger in her face, but her cheeks were flushed and her eyes darted toward two tables. 

“Romelle…” Shiro said.

“They were fighting over who got to buy you two more cake,” the woman said, jerking her head toward the nearby tables. 

No less than five groups stared back, Not a bit of guilt but maybe a little embarrassment across their faces. 

Someone from the back table wolf-whistled. 

“Rome—oomph,” Shiro started, but Keith grabbed the final piece of the first cake and shoved it right in his mouth. 

“It’s good to see you’re back—try not to scare us. And let this cutie give you all the cake you deserve.” She grabbed the empty plate from the table and the fork from Keith’s hand. With a flick, Romelle bopped Keith’s mouth with his fork and turned with a swish in her step.

“Did she just steal my fork?”

“I think she did,” Shiro murmured. “She’s kind of like that.”

Keith looked at Shiro, puzzled. 

“Butting that button nose into things not concerning her.”

“And you love me for it!”

Shiro chuckled and rubbed at the back of his neck. “That’s Romelle—she’s a friend. I kinda live here... especially lately.”

Shiro stared at him for a moment before reaching over the table, wiping his thumb over Keith’s lips. 

It tingled from his lips to his toes.

“Oh.” Shiro sounded as surprised by his action as Keith felt. 

Keith sucked his bottom lip into his mouth, enjoying the taste that he knew wasn’t really there but not caring either way.

“I didn’t —“ 

“No. Really. It’s… It’s OK.“

_It’s more than OK._

Keith focused on his lips, at the thrumming just on the surface. It felt like his mouth was tight and it was hard to breathe, but it wasn’t the same fear from before.

No, this… This was nothing like fear at all.

“Way to ruin the mood, “Shiro said from across the table, and Keith could already tell that Shiro was one of the self-deprecating types of guys. 

He liked it. 

“No. Nothing like that at all.”

“Really?” But there was a spark in his tone that made Keith nod.

“You know, since your friend stole my fork and all.” It wasn’t even their first date, just a chance meeting in a coffee shop that Keith totally wasn’t hoping Shiro would be in, no siree, but Keith was already ready for Shiro to feed him cake all night long.

_And I’ll even take it with a side of piping hot Shiro-size co—_

Keith nearly spluttered when Shiro nudged a fork against his lips. 

“Then open wide.” 

* * *

  
Within three hours, Keith felt like he’d known Shiro his entire life. Shiro was a leap-year baby, but because his grandparents wanted him to have a normal childhood they made sure he had not just one birthday, but _two_ every year.

“They figured one day wasn’t enough,” Shiro replied, waving the fork in front of him as though he were conducting an orchestra. “They wanted me to have everything in life.” 

His grandfather had been the Chief of the local fire station, and when he’d decided to retire Shiro had taken p the mantle. He became Fire Captain at 27, just the year before. 

“Youngest in the state.” 

He married his high school sweetheart, but time passed and the passion died, and then Shiro walked in on his husband in the throes of passion with the interior designer, and that, as they say, was that. 

“It got really nasty, but… I’m okay. I think I knew for a while that we just… didn’t click. We weren’t right for each other.” 

He liked chocolate cake but preferred the raspberry cheesecake, worked out every morning and ran 5k religiously, and ate more mac and cheese than was really good for him. 

“Much like you, I can’t cook.” 

“I _can_ cook,” Keith interrupted, but Shiro only wiggled his eyebrows in response. “When it’s not two in the morning and need to finish an essay on quantum theory, I _can_ make a mean bacon and green chile mac and cheese.” 

Shiro may as well have swooned right then and there. 

“Your mom’s recipe?” 

“No, my step-father. He’s a really good cook… when he’s not trying to make us go vegan.” 

They laughed and smiled and chatted until Keith knew that Shiro was the kind of man that flew by as often as Haley’s Comet, and he needed to do more than just catch a glimpse of him.

“Do you want to do this again? Maybe—maybe this weekend?” 

Shiro’s smile faltered. “Oh, Keith. This weekend’s going to be insane, but… How about I take you out next week? My treat.”

Keith’s heart sang. “Yeah. I think I’d like that. I’d like that a lot.”

Despite what Keith had been praying for, Shiro didn’t kiss him at the coffee shop, a dozen people staring on. Instead, Shiro barked at them to pay attention to their own dates before grabbing hold of Keith’s hand, pressing a kiss to his palm. 

“Doctor said no strenuous activities until I’m less of a mess.”

“A kiss is a strenuous activity?”

Shiro leaned close, and Keith could smell the aftershave and cologne biting into his leather jacket. 

“With me? You bet it is.”

* * *

Over the next two weeks, every moment that passed by felt like it was about to drive Keith absolutely insane. 

After their accidental coffee date, Shiro had made sure that he had Keith’s number written not just on a piece of paper in his wallet, but also on his social media, his palm, and even written in the stars, but Keith was pretty sure that was a joke. 

“Really—I promise I’ll call you the moment I have the chance. Just.... this week is going to suck.”

Keith didn’t ask Shiro as to why, considering it probably wasn’t something Shiro wanted to talk about, and Keith wasn’t one to push. Keith understood wanting to keep bits and pieces safe where no one else could see—he really, really did.

Still, Keith waited. He waited and waited, went through midterms and didn’t call, even though he stared down at his phone for way longer than he should have.   
“You look like a kicked puppy,” Lance told him over coffee in the local 24-hour diner. 

Hunk was busy building a house of toothpicks in the crust of his half-eaten pumpkin pie. 

“I’m not a kicked puppy. I’m _waiting_.“

“Dude said he was busy, but can’t even text?” Lance grabbed some of the fries off the plate between them and scribbled something on the margins of the essay he was grading. 

“Seemed to be something serious. Probably to do with—“ Keith paused.

"It probably has to do with the because you have to move warp speed with everything doesn’t mean I have to, too. And anyway—I know he’ll message me tonight. I’ve got a feeling.”

“Hunk, tell him he doesn’t have a feeling.”

Hunk, who was about two steps away from making walrus faces with two of their straws, shrugged as he pushed them under his lips. “D-nnugh.”

“What are you even _doing_, Hunk?”

Hunk pulled the straws out of his mouth. “I’m _bored_. I just want to go home and sleep, but I can’t until the new guy finishes moving in.”

“You didn’t have to come—“ Lance started, but Hunk wasn’t having any of it. 

“You know how I get with new people and housewarming parties. I’d already baked like five cakes before Allura took away my mixer. They’ll never get moved in if I’m there.”

“And I’m—“

“Sister, Lance. Sister.”

“H—hey! I was going to say—“

“Your sister sent him out because he kept mooning after Lotor.”

Keith shook his head. “What did I say about info, Lance?” 

“But—“ Lance pointed at Hunk, “it’s from his big mouth!”

“Don’t care. Still going to blame you.”

Lance didn’t even try to fight it. “Whatever—Allura said she’ll call when they’re all settled in. Maybe you can come by and meet our new roomie?”

Keith glanced at his watch. “Maybe when it’s not one in the morning?”

Lance shrugged. “Your loss. Pretty sure this guy could make you forget all about firefighter guy. I swear to god, that man looks like he can break me in half.” 

Keith glanced at his phone. Silent. 

“I’m not giving up on anything. I’ve got a feeling, Lance.”

“And it’s not cool to break rule numero uno, remember?” Hunk had laid his entire face on the table. 

“Keith was just about to answer when his phone rang.

“Oh, oh, oh!” Lance grabbed Hunk by the arm, shaking him.

“Ow, ow, ow!”

But the theatrics from his friends didn’t stop his heart from swelling. 

He was stupid, but Keith had added in Shiro under “Starlight.”

God, it wasn’t even Shiro’s name, no even Shiro’s nickname, but...it was almost like he could hear Shiro’s voice whispering against his ear, that sweet little name no one else had ever called him.

“Pick it up—“

“—before Lance does!” Hunk grabbed hold of both of Lance’s hands, pinning them down to the table. 

Keith grabbed the phone off the table, snatching it up right before Lance even got to move a pinky, sliding his finger across the accept button before he could tell himself no. 

“—Hello?”

Keith waited for the faint sound of breathing, and then— 

“Hey, Starlight.”

Hearing Shiro’s voice made Keith’s heart beat so fast he felt woozy. 

“Sorry for taking so long... I just—I wanted to make sure everything was done before making good on that promise.” 

“The promise for dinner? Or—“

“The other one, too, if you’re still interested.”

Keith grabbed the napkin in front of him just so he didn’t dig a hole in his thigh with his nails. 

“Yeah. I’d like that. I’d like that a lot.”

* * *

Shiro looked just as good in a suit as he did in a leather jacket, and Keith had to pick his jaw up off the floor when the man showed up on his door, a bouquet of red foiled chocolate roses in one hand and a helmet tucked under the other.

“Figured you’d like this more.”

Keith couldn’t stop himself from grinning so wide his teeth hurt. 

“Chocolate definitely can’t go wrong.” 

“And they look like roses, so technically my grandmother wouldn’t berate me for messing up one of the cardinal rules of dating.”

Shiro handed over the bouquet, and Keith couldn’t help but lean in for a smell just to be a little extra. 

“Cardinal rules of dating, huh?” Keith asked as he turned around, gesturing for Shiro to come in. “I should put these down. I wouldn’t want them to get damaged.”

Shiro laughed. “I’m glad you’re so gentle.” 

“I have to be, considering the cardinal rules of dating and all.” Keith laid the roses on the table for a minute before looking up at Shiro who was smiling wide. The cut across the bridge of his nose was still there, but the stitches were gone along with the bruises. 

Somehow it made Shiro even _more_ handsome, if that were possible. 

“What can I say? My grandmother and grandfather trained me well.” Keith laughed and got one of his Altea Tech travel mugs, putting it and the chocolate roses out in the middle of his counter. 

“There. Perfect. You can tell your grandmother that I’m a perfect gentleman, too.” 

“Shiro blinked innocently at Keith. “She wouldn’t believe me. You see,” Shiro leaned over the side of the counter close enough for Keith to smell the other man’s cologne. 

“I did the perfect gentleman. DIdn’t work out too well. So, I told her I’m going for the rebel, now.” 

“Rebel, huh? Why do you think I’m a rebel?” Keith couldn’t help but slide his elbows across the counter, leaning low. 

Shiro cocked his head to the side, looking just above his head. “Well…” Shiro looked back at him, eyes dancing in the dim light. He was so close Keith could almost taste him.

Almost.

“Perfect gentlemen follow the rules.”

“Didn’t I follow the rules?” God, if Keith leaned any closer their lips would be touching, and fuck if that wasn’t exactly what he wanted to do. It’s all Keith’d been dreaming about since the night of the fire.

Shiro’s eyes were like burning stars, and then he looked up to the ceiling, his tongue darting out to brush against his lip.

Fuck.

And then, with those perfect lips, Shiro whispered, “A perfect gentleman would’ve replaced the batteries in his smoke detector like I told him to.”

Keith laughed so hard he nearly head-butted the beautiful man in front of him. 

Shiro’s self-satisfied smirk made it all worth it, though. 

“See. Told you. I’ve got a thing for the bad boys.”  


* * *

  
After their playful banter, in which Keith admitted that he honestly hadn’t heard half of what Shiro’d said the night they met and that he wasn’t ignoring Shiro’s fire safety advice, _honestly_, and Shiro running out to his bike to grab some extra batteries for Keith’s smoke detector, they were ready to go. 

“You really carry batteries in your bike?” 

Shiro shrugged as he pulled his helmet over Keith’s head, buckling it in place. “What can I say? I’m a careful kinda guy. And lots of people forget that they need to replace the batteries every once in a while. Anyway, that was the only one that didn’t go off when you had your fire.” 

Well, I guess you’re my hero,” Keith supined as he reached up to adjust his helmet. “But isn’t it more dangerous to not wear a helmet?” He gestured to his head.

Shiro cocked an eyebrow. “Oh, Starlight. If I have extra batteries with me, you think I wouldn’t have an extra helmet?”  
Keith almost felt stupid for even _suggesting_ otherwise, but that was all forgotten when he wrapped his arms around Shiro’s middle, holding on for dear life.

“Never rode on the back of a motorcycle, huh?” Shiro revved the engine, making the entire world _shake_. 

“Nope.” Keith rested his helmet against Shiro’s back, taking in the smell of the other man. Fuck, he could have drowned in it.

“Well, you just hold on. I promise I’ll keep you safe.” 

* * *

Dinner was phenomenal but the conversation was even better. 

Appetizers were Caprese salad and Keith laughing until he cried when Shiro told him about the time his firefighter buddies decided to scare him by hanging dolls from the ceiling one Halloween while he’s been taking a nap, then smiled so hard his teeth ached when he recounted a story of his older sister switching out his deodorant for glue when he was in high school. 

Shiro told him over risotto that he’d been finalizing his divorce and moving out of his friend’s apartment. 

“It was great that he let me stay so long, but he and his girlfriend have a thing going on and they don’t think I can hear them, but I definitely can.” Shiro shuddered. 

“Not gunna ask.”

“Best not to,” Shiro replied.

“It’s okay though. They’re good people.”

By the pasta course, Keith’s broken the ice about his father’s death; Shiro had grabbed his hand, running his fingers over Keith’s knuckles. 

“I’m so sorry, Starlight.” 

Keith didn’t mention that Shiro’s (literal) run-in with a burning door had made Keith’s heart jolt on his chest, but he was pretty sure Shiro understood. 

“I’m sorry for giving you a scare with this mug,” Shiro pointed to his nose.

“I already told you, it’s a good mug. It makes you look badass.” 

As they worked their way through their leafy salad (Shiro admitting that he was used to eating salad before pasta, Keith responding that it was a weird thing rich people did or who the fuck thought it was a good idea) Keith mentioned the work on black holes he had been working on and Shiro lit up like a Christmas tree. 

“You weren’t joking about liking astronomy, huh?”

Shiro rested his chin on his hand, staring at Keith with a dopey grin. 

“Not joking at all. I, uh, loved Physics in school. Most of this is going over my head, but I think I’m getting some of it.”

He seemed positively _giddy_ when Keith pulled out his phone to scroll through to the picture of the black hole, Sagittarius A*, at the center of their Milky Way.

“They’re pretty sure it’s just eating up the gases around it, but... they’re not super sure.” 

“Can you see it from that telescope on campus?” Shiro asked as he stared in awe at the pulsing black hole. 

“No—but you can see it all the way up on the top of Mt. Altea.” 

Shiro sighed sadly. “Well, guess we can go. No one can get up there.”

Keith looked up at Shiro, then raised his hand to the waiter. It was probably not smart, because Keith wasn’t really sure if he was ready to be sharing his whole family history on the first (well, first and a _half_ considering the coffee date) but then again... 

The moment Shiro’s mouth split into a grin over the black hole, Keith had already decided they were going to have a sunset wedding with cherry blossoms.

The whole, “my stepfather owns the whole city and most the state” thing would probably have to come out eventually. 

But instead of explaining, Keith told the waiter to pack the dessert and a bottle of wine to go. 

“Wait—“

“Privileges of being the top Astrophysics grade in the universe,” Keith replied with a shrug. “You up for it, old-timer?”

Shiro smiled. “You’re on.”

* * *

Driving up to the top of the mountain at eleven o’clock on a motorcycle probably wasn’t the best idea Keith’d ever had, but thank god for small favors.

With a quick message to Allura under the table while Shiro was paying the bill, he’d not only managed to make sure that the night staff would kindly make themselves a bit scarce for the next few hours, leaving Keith and Shiro free roam of the telescope.

Keith’d never called in a favor like that before, but knowing that he was doing it for Shiro and Shiro alone made everything okay.

Thankfully, making it up to the summit took less than an hour, and though his arms were a bit cold, Keith couldn’t deny that it gave him reason to snuggle close to Shiro. And snuggle he did; Shiro’s suit felt like fire against his skin, and Keith couldn’t do anything but soak up every bit of warmth he could get.

Still, getting to watch Shiro’s face when they got to the top of the mountain, his eyes staring out at the great expanse of Altea underneath him was something that made Keith’s heart stutter like a broken smoke detector. 

“Can we really see it from here?” Shiro asked as he stared up at the constellation of stars dotting the night sky. 

“You’re not the only one who can keep his promises,” Keith replied. “Now, remember, seeing it is gunna be a little hard, but I’ll guide you there. But only if you trust me.” 

Shiro nodded, exciting coming off him in waves. 

“Yeah, of course. You know I trust you, Starlight.”

Shiro was right; kissing _was_ a strenuous activity. 

Keith would have kept kissing Shiro forever if he’d been allowed, but scientists are only willing to give so much leeway, even to the people who technically own telescope and the building. 

And the mountain.

And everything within a 400-mile radius, but really… who was counting?

Still, when the astronomers came back and Keith was still semi-permanently attached to Shiro’s mouth after well over an hour, Keith knew that it was time to go somewhere else.

Anywhere else, really. As long as there wasn’t anymore about to come knocking on doors and disturb them, because Shiro’s mouth was like fire, and it breathed a passion into his very veins. He couldn’t—wouldn’t‚ deny what it made him feel.

And, at that moment, Keith felt as though he could have done anything.

Maybe that’s why Keith was so willing to fall into the other man’s broad arms, never once stopping to think about what would happen next. Next mornings were always such a headache, but at least Keith was pretty sure Shiro’d be sticking around after.

Shiro was the kind of man who wore his heart on his sleeve, and Keith couldn’t go anything but stare at the other man like he was sort of God sent down from above just for him. 

And fuck if he wasn’t the best kisser Keith had ever had. 

But, Keith admitted as he pulled his head back, he wanted _more_. 

“We should get outta here before they stage a revolt,” Keith whispered against the other man’s lips. He could almost _hear_ Matt on the other side of door whining about not being allowed to finish his work. 

“If you want… we can go back to my place. It should be empty.” 

Keith nodded. The last thing he really needed was for Shiro to end up fire-proofing his entire apartment before they got to the… good stuff. 

There was definitely going to be good stuff involved that night, that much Keith was absolutely sure of. He wasn’t drunk; it was more of a high off Shiro’s hands and mouth and teeth. He’d drank nearly the whole bottle of wine by himself, Shiro telling him that as a responsible driver he couldn’t do more than taste the wine on Keith’s mouth. 

_And he sure as fuck got a taste._

Still, clinging to Shiro’s body all the way down the mountain without letting his hands dip down into Shiro’s pants or thumb open the bottom button of his shirt may as well have been torture. 

By the time they’d gotten to the apartment, Keith could feel the bulge in Shiro’s pants and Keith was almost so hard he could feel the strain in the pants nearly pulling at the threads. 

All he wanted to go was lay his mouth on every inch of skin he could find, lick and kiss and suck until his mouth found Shiro’s happy trail. Then, methodically, he’d lick down until—

“C’mon, we’re almost there.” Shiro hooked his arm around Keith’s shoulder, pulling him so close he couldn’t think of anything except Shiro.

They stumbled into the dark apartment with all the elegance and grace of two men trying desperately not to rip their clothes off. Everything passed in a blur, but Keith was now absolutely positive it was less to do with the wine and more to do with the fact that all his blood had rushed to his cock and he could barely breathe, let alone think.

“You’re wearing too much clothes,” Keith said between kisses, one hand firmly planted in Shiro’s hair and the other tight around the collar of his suit jacket. “Take ’t off.” 

“Someone’s a little—“

Keith cut him off with a kiss so hot it could have melted steel, and Shiro did melt. He melted into a pliant goo that fell to his knees right then and there in the front of Shiro’s door. 

Kith waited for fumbling hands in the darkness to yank at his belt, then pull down his zipper, but it didn’t come. In fact, it almost seemed a though Shiro was praying for a moment before he looked up, a wicked plain in his eyes making Keith shiver. 

Then, with all the power and force a man of Shiro’s stature commanded, Shiro wrapped his arms around Keith’s knees and hoisted him over his shoulder—fireman style.

Keith would have swooned if he weren’t already in Shiro’s arms, but instead he laughed. He laughed like a madman, screaming out a, “—Shiro!” untie the darkness of the man’s apartment. Tears of mirth burned his eyes, but Keith couldn’t feel anything but giddy—even when Shiro narrowly missed bopping him into the doorway.

But then Shiro tossed him down on his bed, knocking the door closed with his heel, before stalking toward Keith and belly-flopping right next to him on the bed. 

Keith laughed so hard he thought he’d choke. Shiro, though, just turned his face toward Keith, smiling softly as he reached up to brush some of the hair from Keith’s eyes.

“Laugh it up now, Starlight. You won’t be laughing for long.”

Then, Shiro rolled over and pressed their mouths together again, but this time there were no inhibitions. No Matt banging on the side of the building, no ex-husbands or dumb freshmen or burning mac and cheese. 

Now it was just Keith and Shiro, and the rest of the world seemed to melt away as Shiro’s hand languidly slipped between his legs, cupping his cock through his pants. 

“‘ve thought ‘bout doing this,” Shiro sighed against his mouth. “Only this. F’r weeks.” 

Keith let out a breathy moan as Shiro stroked him.

If his pants had been tight on the motorcycle, now they were about to fucking _burst_. 

Shiro’s tongue against his made his toes curl, and Keith let himself fall deeper into that kiss than he’d ever gone before, focusing every bit of energy into feeling the way Shiro’s hands pulled him taut. He needed this like the first breath of air when coming up from the bottom of the ocean.

He needed Shiro, and from the way the man’s gray eyes stared so hungrily at him, Keith knew Shiro needed him, too.

When Shiro finally pulled back, Keith couldn’t help but stare as Shiro got into his knees. He towered over Keith, But Keith could only watch as Shiro, with agonizing slowness, pulled his tie free. 

Shiro dropped it down onto Keith’s chest before shrugging off his jacket arm by arm. 

Then each button, one by one, and Keith wasn’t sure if this was fair at all.

“Tease.”

There was Shiro’s wicked smirk as he finally managed the last button, the one Keith’s busied himself with the entire bike ride back to Shiro’s place. 

“You trying to tell me you aren’t enjoying it?”

“Fuck no,” Keith replied as he struggled into his elbows, but all it took was one hand against the center of his chest to push him into his back.

“Then sit back and _enjoy_ it.”

Keith was no virgin, that was for sure, but being with Shiro was definitely like that. It felt different in a way that was difficult to put into words, but Keith could summarize it into one—yes. 

A very, very enthusiastic yes.

Keith’s eyes rolled back in his head by the time Shiro finally made his way down to Keith’s cock, making his entire body quiver in anticipation for whatever was about to happen. He wanted this, wanted Shiro’s mouth, his tongue, his everything. 

“Can I taste you?”

How the fuck was it possible to make such innocent words sound so fucking _dirty_?

“Ye—yeah,” Keith replied, breathless. 

Shiro’s hand reached up to cup his cheek for a moment before it finally, fucking _finally_, grabbed hold of him at the base.

Keith saw stars as he felt Shiro’s satin lips descend on him; he was as gentle as could be as he licked at the pre-come dotting the tip of Keith’s cock, nuzzling his nose against it as he slowly made his way down to the thick vein running on the underside of his cock.

Shiro’s other hand was lazily running through the curls between his legs down to his balls, massaging the skin in ways that Keith had never been touched. 

Keith tried to explain it in words, but all that came out was a garbled mess that made Shiro smile right around his cock.

“I’ll take it as a compliment.” 

Still, Keith was positive he was about to go mad; the touches were so soft, so delicate, so gentle that it was like driving right up to the edge and refusing to look over. Keith yearned for that excitement of riding the edge only to jump over.

He needed it like he needed air in his lungs, so when Shiro finally fully took Keith into his mouth it took everything in him no to come immediately.

Keith tried to look down at Shiro, managing to catch a hint of Shiro’s hollowed-out cheeks as he went down on him.

That alone made Keith gasp and arch back onto the bed, head nearly smacking into the headboard. 

God, Shiro was good with his tongue.

If Shiro kept going, Keith wouldn’t be able to stop—

As though Shiro could read his mind, his mouth tightened around the tip of his cock and slid as far down as his throat could take. Keith let out a keening cry, hands scrambling for purchase as he feebly tried to buck Shiro off.

But Shiro looked up at him then, through sweat-soaked hair plastered to his forehead, and Keith just _let go_.

He came so hard Keith saw stars, and then Shiro’s hands were in him, gently working his ass open with fingers and tongue, using Keith’s cum to help spread him open with fingers and tongue, using Keith’s cum to help spread him open along with cold lube that made Keith hiss. 

“It’s okay, baby. I got you, I got you.”

Keith believed him. Keith believed in him more than he believed in anyone or anything else, because if he didn’t, Keith was sure he’d lose his fucking mind. 

“Is this okay?” 

“More than ‘kay,” Keith mumbled as he lifted his leg up, throwing it over Shiro’s shoulder.

Every finger inside him felt like more than he could take, but Shiro kissed away that feeling until Keith felt as though he was about to go over the edge again, even though his dicks was still soft. 

By the time Shiro got to four, Keith could feel himself getting hard again.

“Lemme get a condom,” Shiro murmured as he pulled his fingers out, making Keith feel the sudden emptiness that made his whole body shudder. 

Keith could barely hear the sound of metal tearing and then Shiro’s hands were back on him, lifting both legs over one shoulder, turning Keith so he could angle himself to Keith’s ass. 

He could feel the head press just against his hole, and Keith couldn’t stop from shuddering.

“You still want to tease me?” Keith asked, but Shiro only chuckled.

“No.” 

“Then can’t get it in the hole, old man?” Keith asked as he pushed himself against Shiro’s cock, feeling the head push in. “Need a little—heh— help?”

Shiro withdrew. “Needy little thing, aren’t you?”

“You know it.” 

But Shiro was staring at him as though he were the moon and the stars in the sky, and it made Keith feel completely and utterly naked and exposed, which was a rather strange feeling because he _was_ already naked and exposed.

_How can he make me feel like this? How’s it even possible?_

Shiro turned his head, kissing his calf. “I just want to remember this, Starlight. Let an old man that, eh?” 

“Just know I’m expecting a lot from you, Mr. Sexy Firefighter. You better not quit on me halfway through.”

“I’d never dare. I’m gunna make you come again.” Shiro’s lips trailed up and down his calf. “Trust me. I’ll make you come.” 

Keith cocked his eyebrow as he rolled his hips down, making Shiro groan. Fuck, Keith had been right that first night when he’d seen Shiro.

_He’s fucking big._

“Just know,” Keith panted, “when you’re done I’ll be coming _in_ you,” Keith replied, smirk pulling at his lips as Shiro positively _shuddered_ inside him. 

“Yes, Professor.”

That shouldn’t have done anything to Keith, but it _did_. Oh boy, did it do something. 

“Just shut up and mo—“ 

Keith’s words caught in his throat as Shiro thrust forward, and if he’d thought he’d seen stars up on the mountaintop or when Shiro’s been blowing him, now he was watching those stars supernova.

Holy _fuck_.

Shiro fucked him like it was the last day of their lives, and it very well could’ve been since Keith was pretty sure he _was_ about to die.

Keith’d been fucked before, but never like this. Never with so much passion the Keith could barely catch his breath long enough to moan. 

It didn’t take too long for Shiro’s hips to stutter, and Keith could tell from the small sounds of need and the babbling of Keith’s name accentuated by the headboard smacking into the wall that Shiro was nearly there. 

He as close—so close that Keith could taste it in the air.

Shiro suddenly pulled out, yanking the condom off as he spilled hot cum across Keith’s ass and stomach in thick ropes. 

It didn’t take much to flip their positions, Keith climbing up on top of Shiro, cock hard and rubbing against Shiro’s stomach. Shiro’s cock was still impossibly hard, even though Keith could feel his come cooling all over him. 

“Looks like you couldn’t hold out, old man.”

“No—couldn’t Not—not with yo—heh—u doing _that_.” 

with blinked innocently at Shiro, wiping Shiro’s forehead with his palm. “Doing—what?”

Shiro could only stare. “You’ve got a good grip.”

Keith blew away some of his hair as he leaned down to press an almost _chaste_ kiss against Shiro’s mouth. It was entirely different from what his fingers were doing as he grabbed the bottle of lube, coating his hand with it.

“Let’s see if your grip is as good, old man.” 

Shiro laughed, breathless. “That a challenge?” 

Shiro’s eyes rolled back in his head when Keith ’s fingers hit that sweet spot on the first go. 

“You bet.” 

* * *

They fucked all night. 

Keith drilled Shiro into the mattress until the bed made a sound as though it were moments away from falling apart on them. Then they fucked against the door, Keith grabbing hold of the doorway pull-up bar for leverage. They fucked in Shiro’s shower, Keith’s hand wrapped around their cocks as Shiro washed the soap out of his hair.

Hell, Keith was pretty sure that if he and Shiro had kept it up, they would have fucked their way through the entire apartment if not for Shiro mentioning that his newest roommates probably wouldn’t have been happy about it.

Time became a hazy mess until Keith wasn’t sure if it was day or night. His dick was sore, his ass was sore, his arms were sore, but he was pretty sure he could go one more round before they called it a day. 

Keith’s stomach though? He needed food. 

“Hey, is it okay if I go grab us something to eat?” Keith asked through the bathroom door. Shiro was shaving, and though Keith was definitely not opposed to standing there watching the other man shave, his stomach was screaming to be fed. 

“Yeah, sure. I keep some pop tarts on the counter. Don’t put them in the toaster—you haven’t proven your ability to use electrical heating appliances to me yet.” 

“Oh, haha. It was _one_ microwave,” Keith grumbled, but he couldn’t help but smile when Shiro leaned over to press a kiss to his mouth, leaving shaving cream all over his chin. Shiro’s other hand got a little grope with Keith’s bare ass, but Keith only swatted it away.

“After I eat!”

“Maybe you should feed me first.” Shiro snapped his teeth next to Keith’s ear.

Keith nudged Shiro. “If you’re a good boy, maybe I will.” 

He quickly backed out of the bathroom and through Shiro’s bedroom door, making it all the way into the open kitchen and living room before realizing—

Oh. 

“Fuck.” 

Keith stared, dumbfounded, at the living room and the lacy pink curtains, the well-worn red couch that had long ago seen better days, the kitchen where a perfectly-baked “Welcome!” cake was sitting on the counter, untouched, and right on the kitchen table—

Fuck. 

FUCK.

Their campaign. Their fucking _campaign_.

The front door opened and Keith, not knowing what else to do, grabbed hold of the family size bowl of his family’s green chile mac and cheese, using it to cover what little it could.

“—so we should absolutely ask Shiro to join us with our campaign. I think he’d be super into it.” 

“Yes, I’m sure he will! And it’ll be a great way to introduce every—“

Keith stared at Hunk and Allura who’d just walked through the door, holding bags of groceries and snack foods.

Fuck.

Keith blinked.

Allura blinked.

Hunk _stared_.

And then Lance walked in with a 24 pack of Dr. Pepper that he dropped onto the floor with a bang that shook the apartment straight down to the foundations, spraying soda across the curtains.

“Keith! I told you not to use the—“ Shiro yelled as he rushed out of the bathroom, naked as the day he was born.

Lance’s eyes may as well have bugged out of his head as they went down, down, dow—

Lance slapped his hands over his eyes. 

Allura, with all the grace his sister possessed, gently placed the groceries on the kitchen table before reaching out to grab the hand towel from its place on the oven handle.

She turned, stared at the mess of her apartment, before promptly dropping the towel over the mac and cheese, covering it from, well, _Keith_.

“Shiro—man?” Hunk gulped.

“Yes?” Shiro’s voice was high-pitched, more than it had any right to be.

His hands didn’t cover much of anything and—oh, fuck.

“I forgot to mention, uh… rulo numero uno. No sex in the house. Didn’t I?” 

Keith sent a helpless look to Shiro, who sent a helpless look back. 

“Yes. Yes, you did.”

“But Keith knows—“ 

Keith just wanted to melt into the floor.

“Keith?” Allura’s voice was tight, though he wasn’t sure if she was about to laugh or scream. 

“Wait, you know—“ Shiro began, but Keith shook his head.

Allura raised her hands, and everyone went quiet. “Keith.” She still wasn’t looking at him. Oh, god. His sister was never going to let him live this down. No one was ever going to live this down. “Go put pants on. Before Lotor and Pidge arrive. You’ve—you’ve already met our new roommate. Shiro, so no need for introductions, there.” 

“Oh! Ohhhh!”

“The hot firefighter,” Lance gasped. 

Allura turned to look at Shiro, but just as quickly her cheeks turned a color of scarlet Keith had never seen on his sister before.

She lifted her hand to guard against seeing anything _else_. 

Keith could only nod as he slowly turned his ass to the wall, shuffling back down to Shiro’s room, nudging Shiro to follow him. 

“Oh, and little brother?”

Keith winced as Shiro parroted back the words.

“Little brother?”

“Yes?” Keith croaked. 

“This never happened.”

Keith and Shiro, as well as Lance and Hunk, nodded. 

Keith had almost made it to the door with Shiro when Allura coughed.

“Yeah?”

”Please... leave the bowl at the door?”

Keith looked down at the mac and cheese. 

Fucking mac and cheese. 

“Yeah,” he replied as Shiro pulled him into the blissful silence of his room. “No problem.”


End file.
